The Morning After

[Kefla (Kefla)]

Oh, **moan**, it's the morning after. ;-) Did we get detailed enough in that last discussion? LOL, it was fun. Hi Emma. Good to know you're staying current on this new BBS. Jump in sometime. <BR> <BR>Watching the Visitor marathon yesterday, I noticed, more than ever, how that Adam MacArthur character oozed sincerity - like no other character I can think of right now. As much as I'd like to catch him fibbing to Nadine or twisting words to serve his purpose, his demeanor is so completely honest and endearing. Maybe we have to give the actor credit there. <BR> <BR>I don't see a lot of TV and haven't been reading much lately. Does Adam MacArthur remind you of any other fictional characters?

[Agent Pat (Agentpat)]

Sincerity? Geeze, that's not all he oozed Kefla, but we won't go there *giggle* [Pat saves that angle for a different BBS.] But I do know what you mean. There are times however, that I wished another character could have walked up to him and said "lighten up." LOL All that drive and focus is exhausting to watch sometimes. Wonder if it was equally draining to perform? <BR> <BR>Other characters like MacArthur? Hmmmm... tough one. He's more of a combination of characters. Kane, from Kung Fu, and Bennu from The Phoenix come to mind as I think of mysterious, soft-spoken heroes on a mission who have special abilities. But, do I need elaborate on the fictional character he reminds me of the most? LOL Hint: JC's gonna take him with him to his grave. ;o)

[Agent Pat (Agentpat)]

Okay, not being able to edit posts is startin' to bug me. LEEEEEE! <BR> <BR>;o)

[Emma (Emma)]

Hmmmm! The character JC will take to the grave - yes, I agree that Adam has his "Chris" moments. I'm thinking of those moments where Chris shows genuine concern for a friend. Chris often comes to the aid of his friends - Adam is concerned about the welfare of the whole planet! <BR> <BR>:o)

[Kefla (Kefla)]

I think you've got something there, Agent Pat (as I wonder which part of the post you wanted to edit *grin*). I was wondering what other fictional heros displayed such utter guilelessness - and never let their hair down. It *is* exhausting to watch sometimes and we *do* long for another character to come shake things up a bit. :-) <BR>Superman, The Lone Ranger, Dudley DoRight . . . <BR> <BR>Hmm, not a very appealing list, but you get the idea.

[Agent Pat (Agentpat)]

Fooled ya. Actually, I wanted to edit in the word "to" in the last sentence "...do I need TO elaborate..." <BR> <BR>Regarding other fictional heroes that display such utter guilelessness, I dunno. It's hard for me to think of any character w/o looking for other characteristics that are also shared by AM. We'd be here all day listing his qualities, both good and bad. And, unlike other, more defined characters, AM isn't so cut and dry. <BR> <BR>Guileless? Well, maybe. In his heart, he believes what he's doing is right, even though he has questioned himself - and others. (Elder/O'Ryan in T-nacht) So, if he has to sugar-coat something here and there, he will. (Nadine and her truck, Joe and swapping bodies) Yes, it's easy to forgive him these minor indiscretions, but would Superman act like that? LOL <BR> <BR>Another example would be how he tailored the "truth" with Henry and his questions. When Henry asked Adam if he was a hacker, Adam said "you know I'm not, Henry," In point of fact, Adam was. Adam *did* hack into the government's database and stole information. He even figured out how to do it by first reading a magazine article *about* hackers. So, in Henry's mind, Adam would have fit the definition - if Adam told him the whole truth. But Adam carefully selected what he would and wouldn't tell Henry about himself. When Henry said "Contance's husband's name was Adam," Adam remained silent. Would Dudley DoRight act like that? ;o) <BR> <BR>I think most good (verses evil) fictional characters share a certain amount of guilelessness. The extent to which they exhibit it depends upon their need to conceal the truth for the good of the characters around them. Sam Beckett from Quantum Leap is a perfect example. Here's a guy that goes "leaping" around into the bodies of other people in the past in order to help them or right a future wrong. But he has to live a lie in order to do it. He's guileless to us, but not necessarily to the other characters were they to find out. (I would have liked to have seen a little more "Sam Beckett" in "Adam MacArthur." Ah vell.)

[Emma (Emma)]

Excellent post, Pat. I wondered if anyone was going to mention the fact that Adam sometimes "lied by omission". <BR> <BR>;o)

[Kefla (Kefla)]

Another good distinction, Pat - guileless from the audience's point of view or from the other characters' POV. And, Emma, yes, lies of omission were what I noticed, too. Never even *thought* about Adam's denial to Henry when accused of being a hacker. <BR> <BR>At one point early on, Wilcox describes reports of witnesses. Adam supposedly told them about being abducted and about how his captors did experiments on him. After being hunted for a while by the FBI and NSA, maybe Adam adopted a strategy of being less forthcoming with information. (Although he was plenty cagey in talking to Nadine about his experiences.) He shared the greatest detail with Joe, possibly to prepare him for the colony. <BR> <BR>Still, Adam MacArthur took the role of the hunted. I can't recall him setting traps for his pursuers. He even kept his real name - hard to imagine considering the pressures of the investigative agencies who were after him. I mean, would you take a welding job using your own name if you were him? (Caged)

[Emma (Emma)]

Good point about the name! I think Adam just wasn't the type of person that was comfortable lying. It probably didn't occur to him that using his own name was not a good idea. Also, he never tried to disguise his appearance. The FBI had "wanted" posters of him so you would think he'd try to change the way he looked. <BR> <BR>I think he was so focused on his "mission" (and trying to find Jason) that it never occurred to him to be more careful.

[Agent Pat (Agentpat)]

Ah, the appearance thing. Well, Adam *did* change his appearance just a little. He shaved! (*sniff*) You'd think he would have done a more thorough job however and also cut his hair. (*gasp*) ;o) <BR> <BR>Hard to explain his using his own name. Though, that might have been more a necessity on the part of the filmmakers so the welder's son could compare signatures with the FBI's most wanted poster. <BR> <BR>I thought it was funny for Adam to tell the nurse his name when visiting Constance. The nurse asked "immediate family?" Adam mumbled "uhuh." But what if the nurse asked him to be more specific? Constance didn't have too many immediate family members. What was Adam going to say, or was he simply not thinking?

[Kefla (Kefla)]

We know Adam excelled at disappearing acts when he wanted to. (Proctor's apartment, the hospice hallway in Reunion) We also know he could defend himself in other ways - such as what happened with hard-nosed Sarah Lawson who did a 180 degree about face after she entered the burning studio to get him. Maybe he preferred to rely on these other skills to avoid capture.

[Emma (Emma)]

Ah the things the writers get away with! Good point about the nurse's question. In real life, a nurse wouldn't settle for the vagueness. <BR> <BR>Yes, he *did* shave, but I wonder why? Could it have possibly been because they didn't want Adam to resemble Chris?

[Kefla (Kefla)]

Who's this Chris person, Emma? j/k You mean the one that said something like "Sometimes you gotta do something bad just to know you're alive." Hey - I'd never mistake that quote as one of Adam's. ;-)

[Agent Pat (Agentpat)]

Adam played "mind games" with people; he was adept at it, and pulled it off flawlessly. He gathered his information quickly and efficiently, and fed the information back to the confused subject before they had the time to process what was going on. The only person he had a difficult time with was Vise, which may be why the Elders chose to leave him behind - he was too strong willed. <BR> <BR>If Adam could gather information as easily as he did w/o much effort, one wonders if he could manipulate people's basic instincts to fear an imposing stranger. Too many characters seemed to be charmed by him a little too quickly. Plus, he was able to "disappear" a little too easily. Was he "cloaking" his presence mentally? The FBI guys are not *that* inept. Nor is the NSA. So why did they keep losing Adam? <BR> <BR>Adam's "aura" was made obvious in The Chain. While the patients at the mental hospital were deficient in some way, they all "felt" Adam as he entered the room. Whether this was intentional or not on Adam's part is debatable, but I think he knew he *did* have that effect on people, so he used it to his advantage. <BR> <BR>Adam seemed to be pretty comfortable with Henry feeling a certain way about him as well. His reply "you know I'm not Henry," or "you wouldn't be talking to me if I were," was pretty assumptive on Adam's part. Was it this way because Adam knew his presence, intentional or otherwise, would have some feel-good influence on Henry? I think so. <BR> <BR>Nadine, Charlie, Laura, and even Burton's wife appeared to show an instant trust and comfort with Adam. What's in that aura of his? Can it be distilled into a cologne? LOL

[Kefla (Kefla)]

I agree 100 percent with your assessment of MacArthur's more subtle skills and the examples. What is not so clear is how consciously these skills were employed. Adam had been changed, he had returned from a very different society, and may have been simply following etiquette as he knew it, LOL.

[Agent Pat (Agentpat)]

Good point about following etiquette. With their advanced minds being what they were, you'd think there would be few secrets among colonists. But if they could open their minds, they could probably close them off from others too. How else would Adam be able to keep his escape plans secret from the other colonists (like O'Ryan) who wanted to leave the earth's fate in humanity's hands? <BR> <BR>Adam wore a bit of a grin on his face when he walked into the mental hospital in The Chain. He had an even bigger smile on his mug when he kneeled down and assessed the location of Magnolia from one of the patients. What I'm not sure of though is if the smiles were character-related. Corbett might have just enjoyed the scene. But it sure looked like Adam knew exactly what he was doing.

[Kefla (Kefla)]

You know, that scene in the mental hospital *was* unique. Ordinarily, we saw Adam using pictures, newspapers, and magazines to locate people. He asked Magnolia's friend where to find her when he reached her apartment. He didn't appear to read the woman's mind. <BR> <BR>As far as the grin goes, maybe that was required to establish a cooperative relationship with the mental patients - much the way we exaggerate our demeanor with young children.

[Agent Pat (Agentpat)]

I think it was Dean who emphasized the fact that MacArthur connected with other characters in ways that were personal to them. Adam didn't "read" Magnolia's roommate's mind probably because he didn't have to. His charm was enough in that situation to elicit everything he needed to know from her. The mental patients, however, did not speak. He needed another method with them. When he <A HREF="http://www.john-corbett.com/screencaps/visitor/mentalhome.jpg" TARGET="_top">touched</A> the elderly women, he got his information w/o her needing to verbalize the answer.

[Sheri Gordon (Sheri)]

*munch munch munch* <BR> <BR>Pat, I know what's goin on in the back of yer brain with all this touchy feely charm and AM. ;-) Git yer mind back in line. This isn't <I>that</I> bbs. hehehe <BR> <BR>Carry on.....this is good readin'. ;-)

[Agent Pat (Agentpat)]

<I>That</I> bbs has been DEAD recently. Why do you think I've been over here? LOL <BR> <BR>Come June though... [heads bob in all directions] "Hey, where'd Pat go???" *giggle* I'm gonna have to train the muscles to get used to putting that "i" back in-between the "A" and the "d." ;o)

[Sheri Gordon (Sheri)]

Gee, and here I was thinkin it was our charm and good looks that was keepin ya here. *sigh* ;-)

[Agent Pat (Agentpat)]

Dem's good looks and charm is what brought me here Sher. Great character discussion is what keeps me here. I wasn't planning on leaving in the near future. <BR> <BR>- And pick up those kernels. The cleaning crew had a fit last night! <BR> <BR>;o)

[Sheri Gordon (Sheri)]

*burrrrrrrrrrrrrrup!* <BR> <BR>The Roxy-nator. Canine garbage disposal unit, a your service. ;-) <BR> <BR><IMG SRC="http://www.electric-ent.com/bbs/messages/4/48.jpg" ALT="Roxy-nator">